BJU Papers: number 08

“The Bob Jones University Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the re-election of Steve Pettit to a three-year term as President by an overwhelming majority on Thursday, November 17, 2022. The Board strongly supports the President, and is committed and enthusiastic about working together with the President and the administration to fulfill the mission of the University for God.”

-BJU Board of Trustees Announcement, November 17, 2022.

To Pettit supporters, there was a sense of deep relief when the announcement of Dr. Steve Pettit’s contract renewal was made on Thursday, November 17, 2022. Since Pettit was elected the fifth president of BJU in May of 2014, the board had consistently renewed Pettit’s three-year contracts one year before the contract ended. This contract renewal came nearly six months later than anticipated.

Nearly every BJU demographic struggled from May to November 2022. The Pettit administration was confused about the delay in renewals and the talk of dismissal. The BJU Board of Trustees was in conflict and division, especially between the Executive Committee and the full board. The Chancellor, Dr. Bob Jones III, was being disloyal, insubordinate, and hosting EC meetings at his residence. The faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni were, for the most part, unsettled and were looking for truth and candor. An anonymous student started a petition that received over 6000 signatures and supportive comments in less than a week. Alumni were writing letters to the members of the BOT and to the Chancellor. Hundreds of pastors and ministry leaders wrote an open letter to the BOT, and over 8000 alumni and friends joined the Positive BJU Alumni & Friends Facebook page. In the nearly 100-year history of BJU, there’s never been a BJU alumni and friends gathering in solidarity and unity like what happened between October 2022 and May 2023. Despite the chaos they were coming together to address, it was a camaraderie with other alumni that most had only imagined.

On November 18, 2022, President Pettit walked onto the platform and was greeted by a loud standing ovation. Dr. Pettit showed a bit of emotion and understandable exhaustion. He addressed the University family by saying, “You received the announcement last night, and I want to begin by giving thanks to our merciful Heavenly Father for all His good gifts to us.” Dr. Pettit then thanked the Board of Trustees for entrusting his administration with the continuing leadership of BJU, saying, “I want you to know this is a great act of faith on their part. They overwhelmingly acknowledged their strong support and their enthusiasm to work together to fulfill the mission of Bob Jones University for God’s glory. So let us be thankful for them and continue to pray for them because they love the school and want what is best for it.” He then thanked the students, alumni, faculty, and staff for their prayers and their engagement, and proclaimed, “Love always wins. It was the love of God for you that won your heart to Him, and in the end, it is the Spirit-filled life that has the fruit of love in it that will always make the difference.” The Thanksgiving break began later that day, and most of the BJU students, faculty, and staff had much to give God praise for during Thanksgiving 2022.

November 17-January 19, 2023: After voting to extend Dr. Pettit’s term, the BOT and President Pettit still needed to create and agree on an actual employment contract. Before the vote was taken on November 17th, Dr. Pettit announced that he would require a proper employment contract. When Dr. Pettit was hired, he only had an offer letter in place in 2014 and 2017. During COVID, there was not really much discussion about a renewal at all. It just kind of happened. Dr. Pettit, at his own expense, had a detailed contract written up. Included in the contract was the insistence that the BOT commit to the first steps of board reform: board education and board bylaw review. The chairman and other members of the EC opposed the board reform and protracted the contract signing into a 60-day ordeal. They stalled and created an environment of filibuster during the contract signing process. Contract meetings were canceled at the last minute. There was even an ad hoc contract committee of five board members that had been formed on November 17 for the purpose of getting a contract written and signed, but it was disbanded after a few virtual meetings. The delays in signing the contract created more uncertainty about the contract and questions about the lack of effective board leadership. It left faculty/staff, parents of current and prospective students, and major donors in a state of suspended animation.

Finally, on January 19, 2023, Dr. Steve Pettit officially signed his contract.

However, it was no time for celebration. The dysfunction, division, unethical behavior, carnality, and incompetence were still alive and well in the governing body of Bob Jones University: the Board of Trustees. And, Dr. Pettit’s signing of a new three-year contract was contrary to the blueprint of the FBFI, the Chancellor, and the majority of the BJU Board of Trustees’ plan to “right the ship.”

The 60 days of contract signing dispute were followed by 60 days of behind-the-scenes subversive behavior by the chairman, members of the BOT (especially the EC), and the Chancellor. On March 21, 2023, Dr. Pettit wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees stating that he could not continue serving as president unless the Chairman resigned his position and was also removed from being a member of the Executive Committee. You can see the letter here. Dr. Pettit cited a variety of reasons:

1) The board chairman was seeking to lead the school in an unknown, contrary direction from the President. 

2) Secret Executive Committee meetings, with careless backing-up and dispersing of minutes, continued. 

3) The chairman was not making board training and education a priority. 

4) The chairman was not taking the alleged Title IX violations and investigation into a BJU BOT member seriously.

When the letter and he had heard nothing from the BOT in response to his letter, Dr. Pettit stated his resignation, saying:

"It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to serve as the president of Bob Jones University. My memories of the wonderful people, the incredible student body, and the perpetual blessings of God will linger with me throughout the rest of my life."

On March 31st, the chairman led the EC and board to amend the bylaws to concentrate the powers with the EC. This passed 10-5. The next order of business was to re-elect the four (4) board members up for renewal. Bruce Woodworth and Paul Matthews were renewed. Paul Kalmbach (15 years as a board member) and Dr. Jean Saito (17 years as a board member), strong supporters of the Pettit administration, were not renewed. As Paul and Jean walked out of the boardroom, there were five (5) new prospective board members (whose names were disclosed to the board for the first time on March 31st) in the lobby waiting for their confirmation as new board members.

On April 3, 2022, eighteen executives and deans from the BJU Administration wrote and signed a letter to the BJU administration asking them to do four things.

1) The removal or resignation of the chairman. 

2) The removal or resignation of the vice-chairman.

3) The reengagement of the BOT with SACSCOC regarding board governance and training.

4) An apology to the students, faculty/staff, alumni, parents, and friends of the University for all the chaos they created and the emotional hurt they caused. 

On April 6, 2023, the BJU Board of Trustees responded to the letter with an authoritarian-flavored letter to the BJU admins.

You can see both the BJU admin’s letter and the BJU BOT’s response right here.

On the same day, April 6, 2023, the chairman, Dr. John Lewis, resigned, effective immediately.

Then, on Friday, April 14, 2023, in a specially called meeting, the Bob Jones University Board of Trustees elected Dr. Sam Dawson, president and owner of Jackson Dawson in Dearborn, Michigan, as its chairman. Dawson began immediately.

On the same day, Friday, April 14, 2023, the Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) requested the reinstatement of Dr. Pettit as university president in writing. They never received a response. If the EC and the full board disregard the written opinion of the BJU faculty leadership without even the courtesy of a reply, who would they have listened to? The FBFI?

On Wednesday, April 19th, Dr. Pettit was asked to fly to Detroit to meet with the new chairman, Dr. Sam Dawson. Dr. Dawson asked if his mentor, pastor, and mutual friend of Dr. Pettit, Dr. Dave Doran, could attend the meeting. Dr. Pettit was fine with Dave joining. Steve asked if Dr. Alan Benson could also join, and Sam agreed. Those who knew about the meeting were hopeful that it would be a meeting to move towards reinstating Dr. Pettit as president of BJU. Instead, it included Dr. Doran sharing his frustration about Positive BJU and essentially blaming the past 18 months of turmoil on leaks, breaches of confidentiality, and gossip.

On April 28th, at the first board meeting following Dr. Dawson's election as chairman of the board, the issue of inviting Dr. Pettit to return as President was not on the agenda created by the Executive Committee (EC). Even though Dr. Pettit had communicated to both Dr. Dawson and to the entire EC that he would return to his role for the good of the University if that was supported by the Board.

At the end of the board meeting, one board member requested that the board discuss the reinstatement of Dr. Pettit. Since it was not on the agenda, the board voted on whether to have the discussion. The motion failed. Dr. Dawson simply notified the university family after the meeting that Dr. Pettit had resigned effective May 5, 2023.

“I am not in agreement with the charges of the FBFI. We have had 155 outside speakers for our chapels and Bible Conferences over the past eight years. 123 (80%) of them are BJU grads. All the other speakers were graduates of other fundamental schools except for Ken Ham. The FBFI criticized us for having Ham. During our CORE Conferences and Stewart Custer Lectures, we have brought in a few speakers that are broader than present-day fundamentalism because of their expertise in the focused themes of the conferences. Practically, the level of expertise we are looking for doesn’t wholly exist in our movement. Again, the FBFI criticized these choices. We have had other events where a few individuals sit on panels, share testimonies, etc. that align with our mission and message who are broader in associations than Biblical fundamentalism. These speakers have all helped us in our purposes. I believe the FBFI will criticize any speaker that is deigned to be outside of their realm of acceptability.” -Dr. Steve Pettit written to the Chairman in response to the FBFI Letter.

Next BJU Papers: A CEO at BJU, The short tenure of Josh Crockett, Bifurcation?, and the FBFI wins with the 7th President.